Messing
About in Boats, Boots, and Byways:
Archive
of PorchPix log entry of19
June 04
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[Read
the original tone-setting post
to this log]
Niagara
Gorge ... just gorgeous!!!
19
June 04: It's
one thing to drive along the Niagara Gorge below the Falls;
it's another thing to walk from top to bottom on a warm,
sunny day.
We
parked in the Aquarium parking lot and walked on a sky bridge
across the Robert Moses Parkway. A few hundred yards north,
we took a path along the edge of the Gorge and then took
a fork that led down to the bottom, near the Whirlpool Bridge
and the railroad bridge beside it.
The
walk was pleasant -- a mile or so, with a gradual descent/ascent.
The trail is in deep shade, with interesting rock formations
and lots of trees, flowers, and shrubs.
And
birds. We saw Peregrine falcons at the top and gulls far,
far below us. And we also saw a squirrel-like fellow, with
tiny ears, big head, and a bushy tail.
This
view toward the high rises on the Canadian side of
the river is not the usual perspective. |
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Lucky snap of a Peregrine falcon hunting along
the top of the gorge. |
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| From
the rim of the gorge, a gull far below is just a white
speck. |
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| The
flora was a mixture of garden escapes such as these
daisies and original habitat of hardwoods and grasses. |
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| The
Reverend savors mock orange blossoms. |
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| Looking
downstream from the gorge rim we see the railroad bridge
and the Whirlpool Bridge behind. |
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Typical
section of the gorge trail. |
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Big
trees, bold rocks, and deep shape mark the trail. |
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At
grade level, looking back toward the Rainbow Bridge
and the American Falls. |
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Big
head, small ears, bushy tail, and resting in the
duff -- we didn't think it was a squirrel but didn't
know what else it could be. |
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Another
view of the mystery rodent. |
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